Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Robert Sloane (play) and
Louis Pelletier (play) ...

Release Date:

9 July 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Sport

Plot:

An actor can only get a radio job if he can prove that he's an authentic cowboy. |

Plot Keywords:

Cowboy | New York City | Phobia | Madison Square Garden New York | Hypnotism

Cast

Dick Powell	...	Elly Jordan, aka Wyoming Steve Gibson
Pat O'Brien	...	Roy Chadwick
Priscilla Lane	...	Jane Hardy
Dick Foran	...	Sam Thorne
Ann Sheridan	...	Maxine Chadwick
Johnnie Davis	...	Jeff Hardy
Ronald Reagan	...	Pat Dunn
Emma Dunn	...	Ma Hardy
Granville Bates	...	Pop Hardy
James Stephenson	...	Prof. Landis
Hobart Cavanaugh	...	Mr. 'Pops' Jordan
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Mrs. Jordan (as Elizabeth Risdon)
Dennie Moore	...	Abby Pitts
Rosella Towne	...	Panthea Landis
May Boley	...	Mrs. Krinkenheim

Also Known As:

Romance and Rhythm (UK)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #4149) | Australia:G

Company:

Cosmopolitan Productions

Trivia:

The radio amateur hour was a spoof of radio program "Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour", which was very popular at the time. It is chiefly noted for the discovery of Frank Sinatra.

Quotes:

Jane Hardy: It must be fun wearing the same shirt every day.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Two Guys from Texas (1948)

Soundtrack:

I've Got a Heartful of Music

Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride

THE COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN (Warner Brothers, 1938), directed by Lloyd Bacon, is neither the best nor the worst of Dick Powell's final musical comedies of the late 1930s. As with his earlier and then most successful musical outings, Powell plays an unknown who suddenly rises to the top of his profession with the help of a fast-talking promoter, once more played by the ever reliable Pat O'Brien. Those familiar with TWENTY MILLION SWEETHEARTS (1934) with Powell, and STARS OVER BROADWAY (1935), with James Melton, and both featuring O'Brien, well, he's playing that same type of character again, and by 1938, has become all too familiar.

The story begins with Elly Jordan (Dick Powell), a guitar player in the band called The Three Sharps, along with his other musician friends, Spec (Candy Candido) and Louie (Harry Barris), from Brooklyn, New York, having all sneaked a free ride on a freight car train bound for Hollywood. But before they can make it to their destination, they are thrown off the train by a couple of brakemen, forcing the "musical hobos" to become stranded in Cody, Wyoming. While there, Elly and his two musicians enter Hardy's Dude Ranch. Elly meets Jane Hardy (Priscilla Lane), a cowgirl, who agrees to offer Elly and his friends a job on the ranch for food and lodging. There is only one problem, Elly has a phobia. He is scared of Jane's farm animals, and whenever he comes across any of them, whether it be horses or golphers, etc., he runs away and hides. In time, Jane becomes interested in Elly, and tries to change him from a city dude to a full-fledged cowboy. Sam Thorne (Dick Foran), Jane's suitor, becomes jealous over her attention towards Elly. During a campfire gathering where host Professor Landis (James Stephenson), magician and hypnotist, entertains the guests, Elly later sings one of his cowboy songs. At that moment, Roy Chadwick (Pat O'Brien), a New York theatrical agent, and "Speed" Dunn (Ronald Reagan), his press agent, drive by the ranch to stop in and board for the night. Once Roy hears "that voice!!" he immediately locates Elly and signs him to a radio contract at $75 a week to become his new singing cowboy discovery. That very night, Roy, Elly and Speed leave the ranch heading back to New York. Elly Jordan, now christianed "Wyoming Steve Gibson," is now a popular singing cowboy, but comes to complications by being vamped by Roy's sister, Maxine (Ann Sheridan), and finding that he has to appear at Madison Square Garden in a rodeo surrounded by animals, ranging from riding horses to roping calfs, which, much to the dismay of Roy, learns that his cowboy discovery not only has animal phobia, but is from Brooklyn and not from out west.

Dick Powell, a baby-faced crooner of many early successful Warners musicals of the early to mid 1930s, was by now appearing older by now, full faced and mature, and at 34, is more believable as a singing cowboy than as a a fearful man who runs away from animals, hiding from them and/or being found covering his face with his hands, as does his on screen father, as played by Hobart Cavanaugh. At first these comic interludes play off as funny, or at least amusing, but after a while, becomes forced and repetitious. Powell's comedic antics in his latter musical comedy, GOING PLACES (1939) where he, too, has a phobia to horses, comes off better than it does here. The story to COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN could very well be said to be a western remake to TWENTY MILLION SWEETHEARTS with Powell working from singing waiter to singing cowboy. But COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN, in its final print at 77 minutes, focuses more on comedy than on musical interludes.

While the movie moves at a very brisk pace, speed doesn't always necessarily mean better. The song numbers, with the exception of "I Got a Heartful of Sunshine," and "Howdy, Stranger," are played to a slower tempo. However, it's obvious the movie did go through its series of major cuts. First off, Spec and Louie, Elly members of The Three Sharps band, disappear early into the story after they take refuge at the Hardy ranch, and aren't seen or heard from again. In the theatrical trailer to THE COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN, which sometimes precedes the film when shown on Turner Classic Movies, it includes a deleted scene which involves Ann Sheridan's character chasing after Elly in his hotel room, possibly vamping him into romance, which concludes with O'Brien entering and getting hit on the head with a vase. Chances are that Sheridan actually had more to do than with her two brief existing scenes, saving a third, a photo of her seen on a night stand of Elly's hotel room. The opening credits to the movie list the title song, "Cowboy From Brooklyn," as one of the songs in the musical program, yet, another portion not presented in the final print. In a 1938 Warner Brothers musical short, FOR AULD LANG SYNE, a tribute to the late Will Rogers (once seen as part of the short subject segment to PBS's MATINEE AT THE BIJOU in the 1980s), and featuring a cast of Warner Brothers stars, Powell is seen singing "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride," along with other cowboys by a campfire, possibly an outtake from this movie or another reprise that just got deleted.

The songs in the final print, with music and Lyrics by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer include: "I Got a Heartful of Sunshine" (sung by Harry Barris, Candy Candido and Dick Powell); "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride" (sung by Priscilla Lane and Dick Powell); "Git Along Little Doggie" (sung by Johnnie Davis); "I'll Dream Tonight" (sung by Powell); "Howdy, Stranger" (by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer, sung by Powell); and "Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride" (reprise by Powell).

The supporting cast includes Granville Bates and Emma Dunn as Mr. and Mrs Hardy; Hobart Cavanaugh and Elisabeth Risdon as Mr. and Mrs. Jordan; Dennie Moore as Abby Pitts; Jeffrey Lynn as a reporter; with William B. Davidson and Ken Niles in smaller roles, among others. Priscilla Lane makes a good counterpart to Powell, and this would be her second and final role opposite him.

While Dick Powell is believable as a singing cowboy, his broad comedy would have worked better had it been toned down a bit, along with Pat O'Brien's fast-talking. One humorous highlight, however, occurs when Professor Landis tries to hypnotize Elly to become no longer afraid of animals. While Elly does get hypnotized, so does Roy, who rides out the streets of New York on a horse, shooting his guns and yelling out "I'm Wyoming Steve Gibson," with Mr. Jordan (Hobart Cavanaugh), also fearful to animals as mentioned earlier, following suit. Otherwise this is Warner Brothers programmer attempting to promote Powell in a new venture in comedy. A portion of this movie was reused again for the musical, TWO GUYS FROM TEXAS (WB, 1938), starring Dennis Morgan, with Jack Carson as a sidekick with a fear of animals. But that's where the similarity to this movie ends. COWBOY FROM BROOKLYN may be a spoof on the singing cowboy genre, the cast tries hard, but the laughs do come infrequently.